Tim Brown

He works in the Centre for Research and Development at Brighton University, where he runs a Moving Image degree course. After studying fine art at (the then) Sheffield City Polytechnic, he took an MA in cinema and television at Birkbeck College, University Of London.

Following an Arts Council traineeship in film/video programming at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Tim has since racked up more than 20 years’ experience in moving-image curation.

He has programmed special events and film seasons for Brighton’s Duke Of York’s Picturehouse, Cambridge Film Festival, ICA, NFT, Liverpool FACT and Birmingham Screen Festival.

For more information about this year’s CineCity festival, visit www.cine-city.co.uk.

Which TV programme couldn’t you live without?

I still miss The Bill. It was rather maligned in its time but I thoroughly enjoyed it, many episodes were little masterpieces of economic storytelling and editing. Nowadays it’s [Danish crime thriller] The Killing – I’m really looking forward to series two, which starts tonight. The first series was totally gripping and compelling and also managed to shine a light on a part of the world we don’t usually see on the screen. It had bags of atmosphere, something the US remake had none of in comparison.

Do you remember the first record you bought?

I loved Roxy Music on Top Of The Pops playing Virginia Plain.

For some reason – perhaps a lack of pocket money – I didn’t buy the single so when I saw them on TOTP performing Pyjamarama, I made sure I went out and bought the seven-inch the next day. That would have been from Osbournes in Banbury, Oxon, the nearest town to where I grew up.

Tell us about any guilty pleasures lurking in your CD or film collections…

I have a soft spot for All Saints’ Black Coffee but I don’t think one should feel guilty about such things. It always makes me shed a tear for some reason.

Do you have a favourite film?

This Is Spinal Tap. I used to be a musician in a past life – or at any rate I was in several bands – and there are just so many scenes in this film that strike a chord. I must have watched it more than any other film, it is definitely my “desert island movie” and is guaranteed to make me laugh.

How about a favourite book?

I love Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton. It is wonderfully dark and is also, for me, the best novel featuring Brighton. Though it is largely set in and around “darkest Earls Court” there are some standout Brighton scenes. We created a film-set/installation in a former hotel room earlier this year based on a scene from the book and are working on a bigger exhibition related to the novel for next year.

Is there a song or individual piece of music you always come back to?

Pigbag, because they play it at Loftus Road every time QPR score. Also, My Mother Was A Friend Of An Enemy Of The People by Blurt – a great title and a great song, it always blows the cobwebs away. I feel lucky I was at the right age when post-punk kicked in. The music and fashion of the time was very influential. It sometimes feels like we are back in 1980 now, especially with a Tory government, recession and high unemployment.

What are you reading at the moment?

I’m re-reading the three biographies of Patrick Hamilton that have been published – it’s research for our Hangover Square project but it’s also great fun getting immersed in a different time and place (the late 1930s, just before the outbreak of the Second World War) and learning about social and cultural history.

Tell us about a live music/theatre/cinema experience that sticks in your memory...

So many great gigs over the years but Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds at Hastings Pier a few years back was very special. One of the most memorably intense and exhilarating was back in the early ’80s at the ICA when [German post-industrial band] Einsturzende Neubaten took drills to the building and the gig was abandoned after less than 20 minutes.

Is there a book/record/ film/play/person that made you want to do what you do now?

In a way, I think it was punk and the bands, artists and film-makers who grew out of that. The whole DIY thing was so important. In such a classbound and divided society here was an opportunity to do what you wanted.

It was incredibly liberating and such a creative time for so many people. It is difficult to explain to those who weren’t alive just how different this country was back then.

If you get a spare 30 minutes how are you most likely to spend it?

I would probably sit down and relax with a glass of Jameson’s. It’s always been my favourite tipple, so I was pretty pleased when they came on board as the sponsor of this year’s film festival!